Nifty at a new record high, opens above 9,200 for first time ever

The Nifty50 hit a fresh record high on Friday to open above 9,200-mark for the first time ever after the The goods and services tax (GST) council cleared the two supporting Bills - State GST Bill and Union Territory GST (UTGST) Bill - setting the stage for implementing the landmark tax reform by July 01. At 09:41 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 29,723, up 137 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 9,179, up 25 points. In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices also hit their respective record highs to gain 0.3% each. "Going forward, we would expect the optimism to continue in the market and expect the Nifty to keep marching higher, first towards 9,200 and then towards our near-term target of 9,400-9,600 over the next few weeks. On the downside, yesterday’s gap area of 9,107-9,129 would act as a strong support zone," said Angel Broking in a technical note. Commodity Trading Tips

Buzzing stocks

ITC stock was the top gainer on Sensex and Nifty both and added over 6% to Rs 285 after the GST Council capped the cess on tobacco and cigarettes at 290% or Rs 4,170 per 1,000 cigarette sticks. Other cigarette stocks such as Godfrey Phillips, VST Industries and Golden Tobacco also rallied up to 5% on the BSE. Shares of MTNL surged over 5% to Rs 26 on news reports that a Parliamentary panel has suggested merger of state-run telecom firms BSNL and MTNL for their long-term survival. 

Shares of Nocil gained 3% to Rs 88 after the specialty chemical company said the board of directors has approved expansion of capacities of rubber chemicals and their intermediates at the company’s plants situated at Navi Mumbai and Dahej. Nifty Trading Tips

One Nation One Tax

The GST Council, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising representatives of all States, at its Thursday's meeting approved the final draft of Central GST (C-GST) and Integrated GST (I-GST) laws. Supporting GST laws would now be taken to the Cabinet and then to the Parliament for approval, Jaitley said after the Council meeting. For the purpose of empowerment, cap of cess on demerit goods on top of peak rate of GST has been kept at 15%, he added. The GST Council would meet on March 31 for framing of rules for Goods and Service Tax regime, Jaitley said. Future & Option Trading Tips